Briefing material for 132nd Virtual Wing- EASTERN-HAMMER campaign
Last updated: 24FEB2023 - refreshing for 2023 re-run
EASTERN HAMMER is a campaign taking place in the Syria map. The background story is mostly (not fully) based on RL events of the past 10 years or so between Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Russia. With that said, everything from the "2022 escalation" section is pure imagination. Any and all resemblance to RL events from that point are purely coincidental.
Unlike the recent awesome campaigns produced by @Neck and @Evo which made use of the extra layer of immersion of JFACC, EASTERN HAMMER will be run "old fashioned way" with the mission designer (Yours truly) building the ATO and setting up the events of each day of the war.
Having said that, the AARs and BDAs collected by each pilot, flight and package will definitely be integrated into the following events of the campaign.
The campaign will try to stick to a certain chronological pace of events but where needed and given DCS and availability of pilots and roles (And occasionally lack thereof) some adjustment will be made to keep a reasonable pace of action.
Starting around 2014, a long and bloody civil war erupted in Syria. Forces loyal to the Syrian president fought against a variety of militia organizations throughout Syria. Some of those organizations were fighting for the Syrian people, others were merely taking advantage of the chaos and lack of government control to gain their own territorial advantages.
Of the militia groups active in Syria at the time were groups of Iranian-funded mercenaries that formed their camps in Southern Syria close to the Syrian-Israeli border. Those groups were Iranian proxy groups intended to shape the conditions for a constant Iranian presence in front of the Israeli border with the intent of being used as an additional front against Israel for deterrence as well as staging combat operations during any future Iranian-Israeli conflict.
With the gradual decline in the civil war and the Syrian military slowly recovering its strength, the Iranian proxies were replaced by a sizeable Iranian expeditionary force composed of armored and mechanized units as well as intelligence gathering assets operating from bases and outposts close to the border and Iranian air-force elements staging in airbases throughout Syria.
With the heavy presence of Hezbollah in Southern-Lebanon, the national Lebanese military essentially withdrew from Southern-Lebanon, being unable to challenge the strength of Hezbollah.
Although the majority of Hezbollah forces are staging in Southern Lebanon, the organization is also present in large numbers further North, where the main effort is to secure the organization's supply lines. Known supply lines include but are not limited to :
- Ground supply lines from Syria and Iran via the DAMASCUS-BEIRUT highway
- Air transports landing in the various civilian airfields in Lebanon
- Sea transports offloading in the sea ports of TRIPOLI and BEIRUT
This buildup of forces was continuing gradually with minor, local skirmishes with IDF (Israeli Defense Force / Israeli military) trying to slow down the buildup of forces and the transfer of advance weapons from Iran to Syria and Lebanon.
Parallel to the above, Russia has also been using the situation in Syria to its advantage by dispatching air and ground forces and securing the major seaport of Tartus as a primary naval base in the Mediterranean. With the increase in tension and many forces facing each other, a full-scale war was only a matter of time.
On January 10th, a convoy carrying advanced SAM systems was attacked by the Israeli Air Force when traveling from Syria to Lebanon. As the convoy was crossing the Syrian-Lebanese border and traveling in a Lebanese village when it was being hit by A-G missiles, and several civilian casualties were reported. Hezbollah, constantly declaring the safety of Lebanese population as his prime concern, retaliated by launched several SMERCH and GRAD rockets at Israeli population centers from its bases in Lebanon and Syria. While most of the rockets were harmlessly intercepted by Iron-Dome air-defense system, there were numerous casualties resulting. The IDF increased its readiness along the Northern border as the Israeli Air Force launched a major offensive against the launch sites used by Hezbollah in Syria and Southern Lebanon. Iran and Syria quickly issued a joint statement saying that "the recent aggression by Israel will not go unanswered". Syria began mobilizing forces in bases in Southern Syria. Russia announced it will not tolerate threats posed on its assets in Syria and declared a major reinforcement of its forces in Syria.
At Israel's urgent request, the UN has authorized the immediate dispatch of CJTF-66 with the hope of deterring its adversaries or support Israel if a conflict should erupt.
Syria and Hezbollah responded by ordering all UN peacekeeping forces (UNDOF in the Golan Heights and UNIFIL in Southern Lebanon) to leave the area, else their safety could not be guaranteed.
All CJTF forces were put on alert for executing OPERATION EASTERN-HAMMER
OPERATION EASTERN HAMMER is a contingency prepared for handling a rapidly emerging strategic threat to Northern Israel originating from Syria. The operation order assumes that hostilities breaking out between Israel Syria are likely to escalate and expand to the Lebanon front as well - more likely so with Iran pulling its strings and triggering Hezbollah into starting its own front thus forcing Israel and its allies to fight on a much broader frontline. In addition to a longer and more geographically complex frontline (Differences of terrain between Israeli-Lebanese and Israeli-Syrian border lines) the nature of the threats is also more diverse: regular army, air force and naval forces from Syria (And Iran) compared to guerrilla and asymmetrical warfare presented by Hezbollah.
THE OBJECTIVES OF OPERATION "EASTERN HAMMER" ARE AS FOLLOWS:
- Contain enemy offensive efforts while minimizing territorial losses and maintaining security to Israeli population centers and strategic infrastructures and facilities.
- Ensuring safety of UN forces in the conflict area (Defending position or enabling safe withdrawal as conditions dictate)
- Launch offensive efforts by air and/or land and/or sea aimed at disrupting enemy maneuvers and combat effectiveness. Offensive efforts are limited only to improve tactical situation in the battlefield for the duration of the conflict.
The Kingdom of Jordan has announced it would remain neutral in the evolving conflict and do not approve the use of its airspace for combat activities but only for humanitarian purposes as needed.
Jordan is taking steps to increase its military readiness along the Western part of the Jordanian-Syrian border as some cells of ISIS and AL-QAEDA that are still active might try to make use of the escalating situation and try to either relocate into Jordan or attack Jordanian villages or assets near the border.
Turkey has announced it would remain neutral in the evolving conflict and do not approve the use of its airspaces for combat activities but only for humanitarian support as needed.
Cyprus has announced it would remain neutral in the evolving conflict and do not approve the use of its airspaces for combat activities but only for humanitarian support as needed.
IDF regular army units are deployed along the Northern borders of Syria and Lebanon. Strength two divisions at 70% combat strength.
UN peacekeeping force of the UNIFIL personnel are still manning their outposts along the ISR-LEB border.
UN peacekeeping force of the UNDOF personnel are still manning their outposts along the ISR-SYR border in reduced strength preparing for evacuation to Israeli lines
Non-changing information and background regarding our adversaries:
INTELLIGENCE/OPEH Intelligence - background information and terrain overview
Radio presets for 132nd assets are as follows:
A master EXCEL source file is available as well if needed.
Land based CJTF assets can stage at RAMAT DAVID and ROSH-PINA airfields
DCS ground charts are in use
Carrier based assets will stage from the CVN-72 Abraham Lincoln
See the link for carrier ops details